Most common doubt that arises
when we see the birds freely sitting on power lines is “Why birds don't get electrocuted on power lines??”
For this question, we might have
heard plenty of answers like “Bird’s feet are of a special kind which is not
good conductors of electricity “in various versions but it’s just a myth. The
reason why birds won’t get electrocuted on the power line is;
For a current to flow through any path it should meet two conditions
1. Closed-loop circuit – Electric current
is defined as the flow of electrons. These electrons originate from source (like
battery or generator) move through the power lines to our equipment and travel
all the way back into the earth/neutral of the source to complete a circuit. In
case if this circuit is open somewhere then no current flows. An electric
switch is a perfect explanation for this where when you switch off it simply
opens the circuit and stops current to flow through it.
2. Potential difference - Another
factor which decides the direction of flow of current is (electric) potential (voltage
difference). Always current flows from a higher potential to a lower potential.
Suppose two beakers of water at different levels are connected with a pipe,
then the water flows from the beaker with more water into the one which has
less water. The same happens in the case of electric current also. Since the phase
wire or live wire has some voltage and ground wire has zero voltage, the difference of voltage between these two will gives energy for electrons to flow
through the circuit.
Now let’s see what happens in
case of birds sitting on live wires based on the above principles of electric
current. When a bird is sitting on a single wire, its two feet are at the same
electrical potential, so the said electrons in the wires have no voltage difference
to travel through the bird’s body. No moving electrons means zero electric
current. Hence the bird is safe, for the moment, but if that bird stretches out
its wing or a leg and touches a second wire, especially the one with a
different electrical potential, it will immediately create a voltage difference
between two legs of a bird and open a path for the electrons to rush right
through the bird’s body.
Sometimes we will be noticing a few
birds lying dead near power lines. If the above case is right how did they die or how those birds got electrocuted?
The answer to this is the
current pole. This current pole which is buried deep in the ground supports the electric wires, which when gets touched by a bird already sitting on the live wire will create a
closed-loop path as well as potential difference (Live wire with some voltage
and earth with zero voltage) This is the shock that people encounter if they
touch live wires — since we are almost always in contact with the ground. Our
bodies will behave as an excellent
conductors of electricity and the electrical current will effectively use them
to complete a closed path to flow from high potential (the wire) to low
potential (the ground) and ZAP !!! That’s the reason why electrical safety
shoes will be used by the people working on the live power lines which avoid human
body contact with the ground.
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